Anti-trans campaign bus halted by police as officials seek criminal action

The association Hazte Oír ('Make Yourself Heard') retaliated against new laws in some regions which allow children recognised as transgendered to register the sex and name of their choice on their identity cards and to use toilets at school of the gender they consider themselves to be.

It intended to travel across Spain's major cities in an orange bus bearing male and female symbols and the words: “Boys have a penis. Girls have a vulva. Don't let them fool you. If you're born a man, you're a man. If you're a woman, you'll carry on being one.”

Sra Cifuentes says she knows of the people behind this campaign and that it is partly aimed at her to attack her new laws on trans-friendly schools and society – in fact, the group has called her 'the most leftist of the whole PP party', intended as a criticism.

She has filed a complaint with the prosecution so they can decide whether or not Hazte Oír is committing a criminal offence.

In the meantime, however, MP for health, safety and emergencies Javier Barbero has confirmed Madrid Municipal Police have impounded the bus on the grounds that its message is 'violent and offensive' and could be considered 'incitement to hatred'.

City council spokeswoman Rita Maestre says the local authority is taking steps to prevent the bus from being driven round the streets, since it 'violates urban bye-laws concerning publicity', which is only allowed on public transport and has to be approved first.

Hazte Oír spokesman Ignacio Arsuaga says the campaign is 'not violent, just freedom of speech and ideology' and says parents 'should have a right' to choose whether or not their children are 'indoctrinated with radical ideas about gender and sexuality' in the classroom.

He insists he 'has nothing against gays', confusing two completely distinct issues, but does not think it right that 'these matters should be promoted in schools'.

What are 'these matters' Hazte Oír is against?

The condition of transsexual – where a person's biological sex is the opposite from the one they feel themselves to be, or 'born-in-the-wrong-body' syndrome – is not common and affects an estimated 0.8% of the human population, but as it is usually very present from earliest childhood, life at school can be extremely hard for affected youngsters.

Taunting, bullying and being forced to act as the 'wrong' gender can lead to severe psychological trauma, and puberty can be a trans child's worst nightmare.

Very few countries allow under-18s to go through a full gender-reassignment operation, or 'sex change', but hormone treatments from early puberty mean everything bar the reproductive organs become, essentially, the 'right' gender.

It is not the same as boys wearing skirts or playing with dolls, or girls being 'tomboys', but runs much deeper, is a medical problem and has therapeutic solutions – although it is not a physical or mental illness at all.

This said, many transsexual children do need the services of mental health workers due to their own internal struggles and rejection, or fear of, from society.

Arsuaga insists Hazte Oír is 'simply stating a biological fact'' – and, technically, in terms of chromosomes, a post-op trans person will remain in his or her birth sex all his or her life due to the presence of XX or XY genes; however, all other physical aspects, internal or external, can be altered so that it is impossible for anyone to tell that the person has had treatment, and in some cases trans women have even been able to become pregnant.

Hazte Oír says its purpose is to 'promote traditional family life' and prevent 'confusion in children generated by the gay lobby', but transsexuality has nothing to do with homosexuality.

Most trans children realise their predicament long before they have even considered their sexuality or romantic partners, the proportion of heterosexuals and homosexuals within the trans community is the same as within the general population, and the vast majority of homosexuals identify and are content with their sex of birth.

Photograph: Hazte Oír